This year I actually did something for Earth day. Yesterday I went to a talk on being vegan at Dandelion Tea, they are a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. The speakers were from Vegan Outreach which I think they said they were based in Oakland, CA. It's funny I don't consider myself much of an activist, but I recognised a lot of people at the event. If this talk did one thing for me it would have to be that I should do more activist stuff, like handing out pamphlets on being vegan. Vegan Outreach has one pamphlet "Why Vegan", which I've seen quite a lot of. They also have a new one about nutrition that I've never seen before. I asked them the honey question, bacause I recently saw at Whole Foods something that said vegan, but had honey in it. I was just curious what they thought about it. But I think the question kind of got dodged, because I don't remember an answer.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

I'm glad the talk inspired you to get more "active." Vegan outreach is a huge part of my life, and it's frustrating because there are so many vegetarians and vegans who really don't do anything outside of being vegan, so while I'm spending 15 hours a week volunteering/doing outreach most people just want to come to the events I've organized. Getting volunteers is really hard, so I'm sure your help and contributions would be greatly appreciated!

I really want to help reach more people and let them know about a vegan lifestyle, and you can help so many more animals too. I thought that there wasn't much going on in the Orlando area as far as animal rights, but I learned at the talk that I was wrong. So at least I wouldn't have to do it all by myself, that's mostly what has been keeping me from doing this.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Yesterday I went to the beach, for the first time in years. You'd think I'd be there every weekend since I live in Florida. Anyway I just went for the afternoon with a friend of the familys. Her son has recently become vegetarian, and would like to make the transition to being vegan, but has no help. I took a couple of pamphlets for our friend to look over, and we discussed vegetarianism, and veganism quite a bit. Anyway the beach was so nice, and the water was very warm which surprised me. Last time I went to the beach in April the ocean was still very cold, maybe it's global warming I have no idea. After we left I ended up at a restaurant I didn't really want to go to. Absolutely no vegan options except a small salad. I tried to tell her, but she thought several items would be alright, but I had said, and the waitress clarified that everything is pretty much soaked in butter, or is made with meat, since it's a southern style restaurant. But the time wasn't a complete bust as my friend learned a lot more about the world of being vegan, and can share with her son some of what she learned/realised.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Today was a really cool day. It was a lot of hard work but a lot of fun too. I got to hang out with Robert at the Vega Booth at the Green Expo in Orlando. I'm way to tired to go into any detail about setting up first thing this morning, because the Vega products didn't arrive until last night. Anyway it was a blast, and there was more interest in Vega than I thought there would be at this kind of event. After the convention was over we met up with some other people at Etho's Vegan Kitchen, and finally got to eat. Tomorrow it should be a little bit easier as we'll have some help at the booth, and Sunday too.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

We had our last day today at the green expo. It was a lot of hard work. But I had fun, met vegans, learned about new stuff, and have possibly recruited some new people to veganbodybuilding.

Tomorrow we may go to a waterpark, as Robert wants to do something fun in Orlando, Florida before he goes home. Can anyone say tourist? I'm not usually the waterpark type, heck I don't even know if I have a bathing suit that will fit, since I haven't bought a new one in some time. Anyway hanging out with R.C. is a blast as everyone pretty much knows so how can I possibly resist?

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Ok where do I start! We did notmake it to a water park as it was rainy and overcast all day, But it was a busy day. We worked out chest at the gym, see my other journal for that. Then we went to Whole Foods, ate, and then Robert wanted to be a real tourist and do something touristy.

We ended up at an interactive museum, attraction. We took tons of pictures, which Robert will post when he gets the chance. The place was called Wonderworks, and it was quite a lot of fun. There were several test your strength type things, some test your intelligence, and many other interactive experiences. One of my favorites was throwing a baseball and trying to strike out a famous baseball player. Basically you throw a ball against this screen with a picture of a baseball field, batter, etc. Of course both our aims were off and we ended up hitting the players in the head most of the time. There was also a design your own roller coaster, and then ride it. We only did the two minute one and it was enough, maybe if I practice enough there one day I will be ready for the real thing. Actually this roller coaster turned you upside down, spun you, went backwards, went vertical, and pretty much did everything that a regular coaster does. Wonderworks was also quite cheap too, only 20 bucks or so, it was actually worth the money. Can't say that for all theme parks/attractions.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

I'm quite pissed off tonight! Right now I should be at the YMCA Annual Meeting, but I'm on my computer telling everyone why I'm not there.
The week started out pretty good. My mom went up to Delaware on Monday to visit my younger brother. And for the next two days I helped my older brother with his two daughters. We didn't kill each other so that's why I say the week started off well. My mom came back Wednesday, and yesterday I officially got the news about being hired. So in all a pretty good week so far! My brother has a lot of collectibles that we left in Delaware, and to make a long story short they ended up in a storage unit when my aunt moved in where we used to live. Even though they were perfectly safe, and out of the way, until she moved with her family. So they can't afford the storage anymore so my brother has to drive up and get as much of his stuff as he can and bring it here. This is where my misfortune comes in. Today I got dropped off at work, and then my mom took the car to get it checked out, and because one of our automatic windows is broken. Should have been done by 3, but something broke and the part won't get there until tomorrow morning. So although I've been looking forward to this night for about a month I can't go. I probably would have been bored but I really wanted to go because I was personally invited by the guy that just hired me. It isn't really anyones fault, it just seems these things always happen when I have something important to do. Right now if I drank alcohol I would definitely be drowning my sorrows. At least I'll be at home to watch the season finale of Lost. But even though I love the show I'm not that happy that I'm home to watch it. Just ranting about my day, don't read it if you don't want to!

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Ok, I've had a day to get over being ticked off. I'm still upset I missed the event, but I'm so excited about being hired at the Y. Anyway I did think of taking a cab to the event, but by the time I thought of it I would have gotten there real late, so I decided to skip it. I watched three hours of Lost instead, and I absolutely love the show. I think mostly I was worried that me not being able to get to the event would make it look like I don't have reliable transportation. Of course the event was held at another YMCA further from where I live. Anyway I ended up calling the person that invited me, and if he hadn't had to be there early to greet people he would have picked me up. He even tried to get me a ride with some people that were leaving from the downtown Y, that I go to, but they had already left. Oh well there's always next year. Maybe I was spared having to look at a lot of meat or something.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Car trouble sucks!!! So the part didn't come in Friday, or Saturday. This morning my mom was told when she called, because no one ever called her that it had come in, and would take about 1-2 hours to complete the job of getting the new window fitted. Before we left I was told by my brother that we would leave for Delaware right after my workout at noon. Isn't it great when you get such advance notice! I quite hurriedly packed a few extra items, and my mom and I left for the car dealership. I was at least able to have someone cover the next two days I'm supposed to work. An hour later we were told the wrong part had come in. They sent the part for the drivers side window, instead of the passengers side. I think it was labeled correctly on the package, but inside it was the wrong side or something. I don't really care when we go up to Delaware, except I still have to fill in my paperwork at the Y, and they haven't called yet. But I've been told it can take awhile to get everthing finalized. At least now I have today to properly prepare for the short trip. The only problem is my brother has a birthday on Wednesday, and he's not too happy about having to be away for his birthday. But maybe this way he'll get two birthdays instead of one. We could postpone the trip,but at this point we just want to get it over with. It will be nice seeing some of my family, and my aunt who loves to bake goodies has promised to bake me some vegan cookies.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

It looks like we'll be leaving tomorrow morning after we get the new window in our car. It's only about a 12 hour trip, but my brother will be doing all the driving of course. I just don't see the point in getting my license until I can afford a car, gas, and good insurance. So I'll be taking a short break from vbbf, which is probably good since I'm addicted to this place. I'm not worried about skipping my workouts because I'm sure unpacking the storage unit will be quite a workout in itself.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Finally back from Delaware. By far the best part of the trip was getting on i95 south and coming home to Orlando. Wilmington Delaware got smaller,lol. Anyway we got most of my brothers collectibles packed in the car, but the rest of our stuff we moved from the storage unit to my familys garage. I didn't have a chance to try out any of the Wimington, DE YMCAs.
I did enjoy visiting my aunt, but the house was as depressing as I remember, possibly a bit worse. Won't go into any details, but my family in DE has too much stuff, and never gets rid of anything.
My brother who drove to Delaware had a really nice birthday cleaning out the storage unit lol. Then we went to dinner at some Mexican restaurant, that they said was good. They Lied!!!!!!!!!!! My younger brother was getting irritated with me because I couldn't find anything to eat. I only ate half because the beans were terrible. My aunt wholoves the place also mentioned that they were more spicy and she doesn't like spicy food. I unfortunately think that perhaps they used the wrong beans, but my meat eating aunt didn't taste anything like that.
Anyway that was the first night. The next day my olderbrother and I started around 7 am, and finally finished around 2:30pm. We were done earlierbut we helped my aunt rearrange some of the stuff in their garage. Then we got some pics with the family, and went to check out our old stomping grounds haha.
There is this one mall that we used to go to and if you stand on one end you can see the other end, small just like DE. Before we left we got a Rita's water ice, best water ice there is. There don't seem to be any in Orlando, it would thrive here if they had it. So we headed back,and I was quite the packhorse in the passenger seat. I had told my brother the one item I wanted was my USA hockey bag with all my old ice hockey gear in it. I told him that if I had to I would hold it in my lap, well he took me at my word. I can't wait to trade in some of the kid size stuff at Play it Again Sports for adult sized equipment. Then next year hopefully I will join the womens ice hockey team here in Central Florida. It was so good to get back in Florida today. If I ever visit DE again, I will definitely stay at a hotel, and not my familys house. I can't wait to get back to the gym tomorrow, I haven't taken this long of a break in a long time.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Umm, I've only played when I was a kid growing up. This didn't last long either, because it's an expensive sport to play. But I always told myself I would get back into it. It is so much fun,and I know the womens ice hockey team here in Central Florida takes any level player since this is mostly for fun. Even though my balance sucks I always found ice skating easier than roller blading. I also always preferred hockey skates rather than figure skates. When I was playing I was either the left or right wing I can't remember now. And having a stick to hold in front of you helps with your balance too. Anyway when I finally opened my hockey bag I found my USA gloves, ice skates that still fit, but have no laces, and a pair of roller blades in very good condition, and pads for rollerblading in. So I may have to give rollerblading a try, and see how it goes.

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.